Meander River Report 10/1/2013
BIG DAY FOR FIRST SPIN SESSION OF 2013 10-01-2013
I finally a day with hardly a breath of wind and also a little cloud cover instead of the bright clear skies, gale force winds and heat. Today I headed of to the Meander River some 50 kms from Sheffield and was on the river for my first cast for 2013 at 7.30 am. The river was low and clear with a good steady flow and plenty of fast water sections plus a bonus, the rocky bottom did not have one bit of slime on it. This makes it much easier for wading even though it's still tough going due to the boulder strewn river.
There was not a sign of any insect life or even a fish on the rise which usually works in my favor being a spin fisher. Still had the little 1.5 gm Mepps # 00 Aglia Mouche black blade spinner on the rod as it's the lure that's kept on picking up the odd fish over the past few trips. First section of fast water I fished didn't give a yelp but the next section I did catch two small browns and lost two others as well which was a good start. Then the sun broke through and things went a little quiet as it was beaming straight onto the river and I didn't get a thing over the next 500 mtrs. Not even a follow or a nudge on the spinner until I reached a more shaded section of the river. Here I did pick up two more browns (320gms ea) and hooked and lost three others, so it was looking good once again. Then the cloud thickened up and that's when it all started for the better. Ahead of me was around 1.5 kms of fast water and boy it really gave up some fish over the next 4 hours of spinning. Over this distance and time I had one hell of a session of spin fishing and still with the same little Aglia too. Working every bit of fast water and letting the flow do most of the work by carrying the lure with it while I slowly retrieved it I finished up with 31 hook ups and landed 19 browns during that time.
So after 5-1/2 hours of spinning the Meander River I managed a total of 36 hook ups and landed 23 browns which turned out to be a big day for my first spin session for 2013. The majority of the fish where in the 380gm to 420gm range and really fought hard in the fast water holding as close to the bottom as possible and darting downstream and weaving between the rocky outcrops of the river. The little Mepps Aglia is pretty well knocked around now but still good for a few more trips yet (maybe?).
River: Meander. Fish: Browns 23 ( biggest 420gms) 4 kept.
( ave wt. 360Gms)
Cheers Adrian Webb.